Pyroxylin wafer for attaching heels and heel-breast flaps



2,203,769 PYROXYLIN WAFER FOP. ATTACHING HEELS AND HEEL-BREAST FLAPS June 11, 1940! 1.. J. BAZZONI Filed Oct. 12, 1937 Patented June 11, N40

PYRUXYLIN WAFER FOR ATTACHENG HEELS AND HEEL-BREAST FLAPS Lewis J. Bazzoni, Swampscott, Mass, assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Borough of Flemington, N. .L, a corporation of New Jersey Application October 12, 1937, Serial No. 168,599

2 Claims.

This invention relates to the manufacture of shoes, and is illustrated as embodied in a pyroxylin wafer for use in attaching a Louis heel toa shoe and securing a covering fiapsplit from the sole of the shoe to the breast of the heel.

It has been proposed to attach'heels to shoes by the use of an activated pyroxylin wafer which is interposed between the heel and the heel seat of the shoe. It has also been proposed to interpose activated pyroxylin wafers between the breasts of attached Louis heels of shoes and heelbreast covering flaps split from the soles of the shoes preparatory to securing the flaps to the breasts of the heels by said wafers. The above practice, however, has not been adopted to any considerable: extent, largely because of the difficulty experienced in handling the wafers, which are very flimsy after they have been activated. In order to insure that the flap be efiectively secured to the shoe, it is desirable that the activated wafer register with the forward end of the split or crotch between the flap and the sole.

and also that the flap be smoothly arranged between the breast of the attached heel and the flap preparatory to applying the flap to the breast of the heel. It will therefore be appreciated that the efiective interposing of the activated wafer between the flap and the breast of the attached heel is a slow and tedious operation.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a pyroxylin wafer by the use of which aheel may be attached to a shoe and a heel-breastcovering flap may be quickly and effectively secured to the breast of the heel. With the above object in view, and in accordance with a feature of this invention, there is provided a pyroxylin wafer comprising a rear portion adapted to be received in its entirety by the attaching face of the heel and a front portion of a size suitable to cover the breast of the heel, the wafer having a slot shaped to receive a tool for handling the wafer.

Preparatory to attaching the heel to the shoe and securing the flap to the breastof the heel theoperator immerses the wafer in an activating fluid such, for example, as acetone, by the use of the tool a portion of which passes through the forcedinto the crotch between the flap and the sole by the tool, and-after the heel has been positioned upon. the shoe it is forced against the heel seat of the shoe under attaching pressure with said rear portion of the wafer interposed between the heel and the heel seat of the shoe, the flap then being secured by the upturned front portion of the wafer to the breast of the heel,

By providing the improved wafer the flap maybe quickly and effectively secured to the heel during the heel-attaching operation thereby eliminating the above-mentioned slow and tedious operation of inserting a separate flimsy activated wafer between the attached heel and the breast flap preparatory to securing the flap to the heel breast. Moreover, by using the improved wafer an efiective bond between the lip of the heel and the shoe is insured, since the wafer is wrapped around the lip as distinguished from a shoe in which the flap is secured by a separate wafer, which wafer is almost never efiectively forced into the crotch between the flap and the sole.

The various features and advantages of the invention will be understood and appreciated from the following detailed description read in connec tion with the accompanying drawingjin which-- Fig. 1 is a plan view of a pyroxylin wafer which may be advantageously used for attaching a heel toa shoe and a heel-breastcovering flap to the breast of the heel;

. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a hand tool shown supporting the pyroxylin wafer of Fig. 1 preparatory to activating the wafer;

Fig. 3 illustrates the wafer of Fig. 2 in an activating fluid;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing the activated wafer being applied to the heel seat of the shoe and to the heel-breast covering flap by the use of the above tool, preparatory to attaching a heel to the shoe; and

Fig. 5 is a side view of portions of a machine by the use of which the heel may be attached to the shoe and the flap may be secured to the breast of the heel.

The invention is illustrated with reference to a shoe 20 (Figs. 4 and 5) the sole 22 of which has been split by the machine disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,107,281, granted February 8, 1938, on an application filed in my name, to form a heel-breast covering flap 24. Said machine is provided with a rotary saw (not shown) which not only splits the sole 22 to form the fiap 24 but also removes a layer of sole material to provide a heel-breast receiving shoulder 26 (Fig.4) extending from one side of the sole to the other. After the heel-seat portion of the sole has been reduced\to form a tab 28 and the sole has been positioned upon the shoe in the inserted manner disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,125,328, granted August 2, 1938, on an application filed in my name, said sole is permanentslide 39 of a hand tool 40 through the use of which the operator can effectively handle the wafer 32 I while it is being activated and then apply the same to the shoe. The slot 38 (Fig. 1) which ex tends transversely of the wafer, is located between the front and rear portions 34, 36, respectively, of the wafer, and is in alinement witha pair of laterally projecting shoulders 42 (Fig. 1) of said front portion. The rear end of the front portion 36 of the wafer may be considerably wider than an adjacent part of the rear portion 34 of the wafer. v,

The hand tool 40 is provided'with-a U-shaped opening 44 for receiving the forward end of the slide 39. The slide 39 is guided for movement with relation to a plate 48 of the tool in directions indicated by arrows 50 through the provision of a pair of slots 52 which receive upstanding studs 54 secured --to the plate. The slide 39 is also provided with a bent-up portion 56 which is normally engaged by the thumb of the right hand of the operator and through which the slide may be conveniently moved forward to its operating position shown in Fig. 2 preparatory to picking up the wafer 32. When the rear ends of the slots 52 are in engagement with the studs 54 (Fig. 2), the slide 39 is in its forward position and when the front ends of the slots are in engagement with the studs 54 the shoulder 58 of the slide is in alinement with the shoulders 60 of the plate 48.

After mounting the wafer 32 upon the tool 40 in the manner illustrated in Fig. 2, the operator immerses the wafer for a predetermined period in an activating fluid 62 (Fig. 3); When the operator has removed the wafer 32 from the: activating fluid 62, he grips the front end of the wafer between the thumb and forefinger of his left hand, for example, and raises the front part 36 of the wafer until it is disposed at approximately right angles to the plate 48. The activated wafer 32 is then applied to the shoe, the rear portion 34 of the wafer being positioned upon the heel seat of the shoe, and the front portion 36 of the wafer being arranged adjacent to the upturned flap 24, as illustrated in Fig. 4. When the operator has moved the shoulder 58 of the Q0 slide into engagement with the central portion of ing the heel 30 upon the shoe, the work is presented to a machine such, for example, as that disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,123,926, granted July 19, 1938, on an application filed in my name. Said machine comprises abutments 64 and 66 (Fig. 5) which are engaged by the tread and rear faces respectively of theheel, and a jack 68 which is raised'to force the shoe with considerable pressure against the heel. After the heel has been attached to the shoe the flap 24 is applied to the heel by the pad 10. Since the heel-attaching and flap-laying machine is fully disclosed in said United States Letters Patent No. 2,123,926, it will not be necessary further to describe the same herein.

Although the invention has been described with reference to the shoe construction disclosed in said United States Letters Patent No. 2,125,328, itwill be understood that wafers similar to that illustrated herein may be used in connection with shoes the heel-breast covering flaps of which have been split forward of the heel-breast line of the sole of the shoe. In the illustrated construction the crotch between the flap 24 and the sole of the shoe comprises the, heel breast receiving shoulder 26, but in a construction in which the flap is split by a knife forward of the heel-breast line of the shoe the angle formed by the base.

-' vided with shoulders 58, 60 of suitable height to insure that the activated wafer shall be effectively forced into the angle between the flap and the shank portion of the sole of the shoe.

If desirable, the rear portion 34 of the wafer 32 may extend only over the forward end of the heel-seat portion of the sole, in which case the heel may be secured to the shoe by other adhesives or by the commonly used temporary attaching screw.

Having described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A pyroxylin wafer for use in attaching a heel to a shoe and securing a covering flap tothe breast of the heel comprising a rear portion slightly smaller than the attaching face of the heel and a front portion of a sizesuitable to cover the breast of the heel, said wafer having an adapted to receive a tool for facilitating the handling of the wafer.

2. A pyroxylin wafer for attaching a heel to a shoe and a covering flap to the breast of theheel comprising, a rear portion adapted to be received in its entirety by the attaching face of the heel, and a front portion of a size suitable to cover the breast of the heel, said wafer having a slot shaped to receive a tool forhandling the wafer.

LEWIS J. BAZZONI. 

